Oxford High Shooting Updates: Terrorism Charge, Possible Charges Against Parents

There are new updates concerning the shooting that happened at Oxford High School, just north of Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.

The suspect has been identified as 15-year-old sophomore Ethan Crumbley. As The Blast previously reported, Crumble used a 9mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun to fire shots at people in a school hallway and even tried to shoot his way through barricaded doors.

At least four students have passed away from their injuries: Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Justin Shilling, 17. Shilling passed away on Wednesday morning. Myre, a popular football player, passed away in a patrol car en route to the hospital after trying to disarm the shooter.

Six other students were wounded in the attack. Two students are still in critical condition. A teacher, who was grazed in the shoulder, has been discharged from the hospital.

Crumbley, 15, will be tried as an adult and faces murder, assault, and weapons charges. He is also going to face one count of terrorism causing death, which is almost unheard of in a school shooting.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald defended the charge, saying, "There is no playbook about how to prosecute a school shooting and candidly, I wish I'd never even had -- it didn't occur so I wouldn't have to consider it, but when we sat down, I wanted to make sure all of the victims were represented in the charges that we filed against this individual.”

She added, "If that's not terrorism, I don't know what is."

"Like every other child that was in that building, and I address that about the terrorism charge, we must have an appropriate consequence that speaks for the victims that were not killed or injured but also, they were affected, how do they go back to school?" she continued.

"There are obviously four children who were murdered and many others injured but over 1,000 were also victimized as well."

Crumbley’s parents, James Crumbley and Jennifer Crumbley, may also be facing charges. Authorities allege that the handgun that was used in the attack was bought by the shooter’s father on Black Friday, only four days before the attack.

According to Fox 2 Detroit, several long guns were also retrieved from the shooter’s house. Although his social media accounts have since been deleted, authorities say that Crumbley had posted pictures of the gun and of himself shooting targets in the days leading up to the attack.

At a press conference, McDonald added that, “We know that owning a gun means securing it properly and locking it and keeping the ammunition separate and not allowing access to other individuals, particularly minors. We have to hold individuals accountable who don't do that.”

It is not clear what charges may be filed against Crumbley’s parents, if any, as authorities continue to investigate this case.

Although no motive has yet been declared for the attack, officials have found evidence on the shooter’s social media accounts to suggest that the attack had been pre-planned. Lieutenant Tim Willis of the Oakland County Sheriff’s office said that investigators found a video recorded the night before the shooting took place that suggested he planned to kill his classmates.

Assistant prosecutor Marc Keast added that the suspect “deliberately brought the handgun that day with the intent to murder as many students as he could.”